This book was left neglected on my TBR for WAY too long for how long it has turned out to be. 

 

This is one of my favourite ways in which magical worldbuilding has been established. I absolutely adored the two different kinds of magical energy division and the way in which magic can be wielded -- I'm a big fan of categories. The Scholomance itself came off as a well visualised setting and it because of how well the menace of it was conveyed it was very easy to sympathise with all the characters here. It was easy to understand how essential it is to sacrifice moral values for survival. 

 

Speaking of characters, I love El. She as an absolute delight to read as a narrator with her dry and witty commentary on everything and everyone; with the way she is written the exposition for the world comes of as not only interesting but also fun to read. With how busy I am these days I rarely have time to put up with dull or irritating narration and El is the opposite of both of those. I love reading about grey morality, and El very much falls on the boundaries of it -- her internal struggle was realistically depicted. I really enjoyed seeing a character like her also have a wonderful family dynamic; I feel like we don't often get to see healthy families combined with morally grey protagonists. 

 

The class system within the school came off as very realistic -- I think this is how scared teenagers trapped in a building full of monsters would behave. The struggle of maintaining various relationships, the confusion of it all, is all very realistic to high school and all of it was heightened with constant threats to survival. The obliviousness of certain characters to the difficulties of those who they see as below them was well written and El's anger at the unfairness of it all was also very natural. 

 

I really enjoyed the side characters -- Orion was especially amusing to read and I found his dynamic with El highly enjoyable to read. Aadhya and Liu were both distinct and we really got a sense for their depth outside of the story being told here. Magnus was also very easy to hate, but maybe that was just me. 

 

Overall, I definitely recommend checking this book out if you want something well written and interesting to read. The pacing was quick so boredom is definitely not an issue.